


A change of skin

by siangjiang



Category: People of Earth (TV 2016)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Drinking, Gen, Jeff and Kurt messing around, M/M, Reptilian, Skinny Dipping, Swearing, alien - Freeform, moulting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 22:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12591584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siangjiang/pseuds/siangjiang
Summary: Something is wrong with Kurt, and even though Jeff isn't the most understanding of people he tries to help.





	A change of skin

Jeff checked over his shoulder one last time before turning left, towards Kurt's private quarters. In one hand he balanced a mug of tea which was definitely _not_ made for his stubby fingers, and in the other a mug of coffee for Kurt.

Why was the ship arranged like this? Their private quarters were close to each other, but you still had to walk down a short hallway to each room which made it impossible to be sneaky. If someone saw you, you had no excuses for being in that part of the ship.

He had to remind himself that he had no reason to be sneaky. He and Kurt were coworkers. He was just having hot drinks with a coworker.

He gently knocked on Kurt's door.

"Who is it?"

"Jeff. I brought you coffee"

He heard some scrambling "Now isn't such a good time. I'm not...dressed"

A tiny tingle ran down Jeff's back "O-Oh, I see..." He leaned closer to the door and asked in a low voice "Can't you just get dressed?"

"Yeah...But can you, like, come back later?"

"Oh, sure. Like in an hour?" Jeff held up the mugs as if Kurt could see him "Your coffee is going to get cold"

"How about in a day?"

Jeff blinked. That didn't sound right. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just need some time to myself"

"Time to your-?" Jeff hated rejection, especially by Kurt. He could feel all his little insecurities bubble up, and it tended to come out as anger. "Do you plan to just skip work for a day!? Are you sick or not!?"

"I'm not sick, I just-"

"You are not loading all your work onto me just because you want some me-time!"

He slammed his elbow into the panel next to the door which made it open, almost spilling coffee and tea everywhere. He was met by the sight of Kurt halfway out of his chair, as if he had been scrambling to lock the door, naked as the day he was born and covered in flakes of transparent, dry scales. Jeff's mouth dropped before he quickly looked away.

"You said you weren't sick!"

"I'm not! Get in and lock the door before Don comes running!"

Jeff quickly did as told, and Kurt sat back down with a sigh. Now Jeff saw that the floor was covered in scales too, mostly around the chair.

"What is happening to you?"

"I'm moulting"

" _That's_ what that looks like!?"

"Yeah, it's not pretty. Honestly, I thought I was done with shedding for good, but seems like I had one skin change left in me"

Jeff handed Kurt the coffee, still looking away and carefully stepping over the biggest piles of scales on the floor. "It's disgusting"

"Fuck you" Kurt said, but took the mug with a nod of gratitude. 

Jeff sipped a bit of his tea "Can't you, like, brush it off or something? Make it come off faster"

"Yes, but if I start scratching it, it begins to itch, and then I'll be itchy all day"

"I didn't say scratch" Jeff corrected "I said brush, like this" He quickly ran a hand over Kurt's lower arm, causing several flakes to fall off. A few tiny ones floated up into the air.

"Arhg! No!" Jeff whined "Perfect. It got in my tea"

"Ha! Serves you right" Kurt laughed "Stop touching it"

"You got some specks in your coffee too"

"I don't care. It's my specks" Kurt smiled and drank a big mouthful.

Jeff made a face even though he knew Kurt was doing it to annoy him "You're disgusting"  
He thought for a moment "Can't you clean it off in the cleaner?"

"No. It doesn't register as dirt because they're my scales. Thank god. I'd hate for it to strip me clean of _skin_ every time"

"Hmm" Jeff looked at the floor "How about water?"

"Water?"

"Yeah. You told me humans clean themselves with water, right?"

Kurt tapped his chin "That's not a bad idea actually"

**********

"Are you done yet?"

Jeff was trying to look in all other directions than Kurt splashing around in the dark, outdoor swimming pool. He looked surprisingly at home in water, and the way the moon reflected on the surface, outlining Kurt, didn't look half bad. Still, they were down on Earth which Jeff had made a point of avoiding as much as possible.

"This is so gooood" Kurt sighed "The scales are coming off and the cold is soothing the itch. It's perfect"

"Hm, well, good, glad you liked my idea" Jeff said, trying to ignore Kurt's pornograpic noises "But a human could show up at any moment and shoot us"

"Relax, they don't _all_ carry guns and they sleep at night" Kurt floated on the top and did a playful rolling motion "You should get in"

"Pha! Absolutely not! That thing is probably filled with human germs, not to mention your skin, and you're _naked_!" 

Jeff hadn't even finished talking before Kurt dove under the water and started swimming towards him. He popped up next to Jeff, his cheeks ballooning, yet somehow he was also smirking.

"Don't!" Jeff hissed. Kurt held up his hands like 'Don't do what?'. "I don't know, but you're about to do someth-!"

Kurt spat water at him. A tiny bit got on Jeff's leg.

"Kurt! Are you insane!?"

Kurt dove again, and Jeff quickly moved back. The next time Kurt spat it was nowhere near Jeff. "Ha!" Jeff exclaimed triumphantly, doing a little dance "Missed me!"

This was it. This was why he lo-... _liked_ Kurt so much. Somehow he could be the most infuriating man alive, yet they always ended up having fun. No one could make Jeff forget work, just for a moment, like Kurt. And it only worked because Jeff knew Kurt was serious about the agenda too, unlike Don or Jonathan. They could mess around now, but when work called Kurt was ready to do his job. Jeff could always count on him.

"What you gonna do?" Jeff taunted "Actually get out of the pool so I can beam us back up?"

Kurt was about to say something when the silent night was interrupted by voices that were much too close. 

"You're sure they don't have surveillance cameras?"

"I work here. The boss only cares about the cash register"

Like a reflex Jeff ran and hid behind one of the beach chairs that were lined up along the pool. Kurt took a deep breath and disappeared under the water, closest to the edge where the voices were coming from.

A group of teenagers came into view, beers in hand and swaying slightly. One of them pointed at the pool.

"Didn't I tell you? No safety at all"

A girl wrinkled her nose looking at Kurt's scales bobbing in the water "It looks dirty. What's all that stuff?"

"Probably just leaves" the guy assured her "Are you afraid of leaves?"

"I don't want to swim in a pool that has dirty shit in it"

"So we walked all the way out here just so we could walk all the way back because you're a whimpy city chick?"

"Hey, you can swim all you like. I'm not getting in"

"Suit yourself" one of the other guys said "I'm doing a bomb" 

He immediately started undressing and some of the other teens were about to follow suit when one of them said "Hey guys, is someone hiding behind that chair?" They all looked in the direction of Jeff, who tried to make himself even smaller. He never expected to die like this. "Is it an animal? It doesn't look human..."

"Canon bomb!!!"

A loud splash broke the tension as the guy jumped in, immediately followed by Kurt coming up for air with a loud gasp. Several of the teens screamed. They fell and tripped in their own clothes. The guy in the pool screamed loudest of all and scrambled to the edge of the pool, his hands slipping on the wet surface as the tried to get to safety. As he got up he crashed into some of the beach chairs, making Jeff jump up, followed by more screaming by everyone involved, and soon the kids were scattering like wild deer in all directions. 

Kurt quickly crawled out of the water and grabbed his clothes "Beam us back up!"

A light flashed and suddenly they were back on the ship, the only sounds being their heavy breathing and water dripping. Suddenly Kurt laughed.

"That wasn't funny" Jeff growled, still trying to control his breathing.

"Come on, it was a little funny" Kurt giggled, nudging Jeff. 

Jeff swatted at him. "No! And you're naked!"

"It was funny, and I'm feeling great" Kurt said, running a hand over his smooth arm "Hopefully that was my last moulting"

"I should hope so! Not just for you but for the whole reptilian agenda!"

"Don't worry. They were drunk teenagers. No one's going to believe them"

"And what about your scales?! They could use those as proof!"

"Oh no, reptile scales on earth. Never seen before. Relax, humans don't really want to believe in us. If they test it they'll just say 'We don't quite know what species, but it's definitely reptile' and leave it at that. And if the kids won't shut up about it I can just _take care_ of them"

"Let's hope so for your sake. Now get dressed. This is incredibly unprofessional"

Kurt flipped Jeff off playfully as he walked away, holding his jacket in front of him to cover his naughty parts. Well, the front ones at least. Jeff couldn't help but steal a glimpse of Kurt's dripping wet backside.

That too. That was also one of the reasons why he _liked_ Kurt.


End file.
